Duke’sunique ‘hobo-chic’
by Andrew Pain, Evening Gazette
USING cheese graters, wardrobe doors, pianos, harps, brass, strings and an old gramophone to create his sound - DUKE SPECIAL is truly a musical spectacular.
The Duke is one of a kind, a talented young Belfast man whose bruised romanticism and soft Northern-tinged vocals are in sharp juxtaposition with his wild dreadlocks, smudged eyeliner and unfeasibly wide trousers.
On stage, Duke Special explodes into musical mayhem, a fiddle screeches and the crushed velvet covered piano thumps and tinkles in unison but it’s the very core of the songs, his heartfelt, passionate poems, that will remain in your head long after the lights have gone down.
Duke Special is an artist aptly named. Dynamic, musically ambitious and bracingly eccentric with his inimitable style and lush musicality. Hailing from Belfast with a sound that is self-confessed “hobo-chic”, Duke Special - AKA the endlessly inventive Peter Wilson - is once heard, never forgotten.
His critically acclaimed 2006 album, Songs From The Deep Forest, has already achieved platinum status in Ireland and received plaudits across the board. It was re-released in the autumn of 2007, with the addition of the single Our Love Goes Deeper Than This (featuring the Divine Comedy’s Neil Hannon and Romeo Stodart from the Magic Numbers).
The Duke is a fervent performer who harks back to a pre-rock ’n’ roll era, with dashes of Gershwin and orchestral swing, all tinged with a Northern Irish lilt and poetic lyrics that could feature in a modern-day fairytale.
He is the perfect balance of old and new - boasting the appeal of a three-minute pop song with the incessant charm of an old-school music hall. “I want to capture something dusty and beautiful on record, something that sounds like Christmas smoking through an old wooden radio,” he says.
In 2007 Duke played live to a variety of audiences across the UK and Ireland and much of mainland Europe, including appearances from the Cannes Film Festival and Glastonbury to shows in Paris, New York and LA. Live highlights of the year have to include the stunning show with the Ulster Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as his five sold out nights at the Belfast Empire, each with a different theme, which he then took to London for four shows at four different venues across the capital. The year culminated in a tour supporting Crowded House on their massive arena tour of the UK and Ireland.
Already in 2008 he has played with the Dubai Philharmonic Orchestra at the Dubai Irish Festival, picked up a Meteor Award for Best Male in Ireland, and jetted off to LA to wow a select audience at a pre-Oscars party.
Tickets for the show at Arc tomorrow are £10 in advance and £12 on the door. Book online now at www.arconline.co.uk or call Arc Box Office on 01642 525199.
DUKE SPECIAL - Arc, Stockton Tomorrow Entry £12/£10
